Google attempted to prank its Gmail users for April Fools Day this year, but it seems like it created more tears than laughs.
On Thursday, a new "send + mic drop" button appeared next to the "send" button in Gmail. The "new" feature gave users the option to add a GIF of a minion dropping a microphone to emails.
The new feature seemed like a great idea, depending on the subject.
Google received a number of complaints from people who accidentally pressed the "send and mic drop" on important messages. One user said he lost his job after he sent a "mic drop" in a email to his boss.
People also struggled to find a way to undo the mic drop and turn off the feature. People created threads in the Gmail help forum looking to solve the mistake they just made.
"DROP THE MIC DROP GOOGLE. IT'S RIGHT NEXT TO THE SEND BUTTON! I accidentally just hit it on an important work email. NOT COOL!!!!" one user wrote.
"HOW DO I REMOVE NEW "drop mic" BUTTON - I Really dont want it next to my main send button...... really don't want it!!!!! PLEASE HELP!!" another wrote.
But it seems like the damage has already been done.
Google finally removed the button Friday morning and apologized.
"Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. 😟 Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We’re truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page," the company wrote in a blog post.
Google has been playing April Fools jokes for years, but this time, it pranked itself.